THE subsidy for the production of chicken eggs has been increased to 10 sen per egg effective immediately, said Annuar Musa, as Putrajaya continues to find ways to reduce the supply shortage. 

The Special Task Force on Jihad Against Inflation chairman said the increase in subsidy would involve more than RM20 million in government spending.

“The committee had agreed to increase the subsidy for eggs to 10 sen each – which was agreed to by the Finance Ministry – involving Grade A, B and C chicken eggs. 

“This will mean a subsidy of more than RM20 million will be spent in a month for the purpose,” he told reporters at a press conference today. 

Annuar said the average cost of producing an egg is 51 sen, while the ceiling price is 41 sen.

“The government had initially agreed to provide a subsidy of 3 sen per egg. 

“This was far from the actual cost of production and the subsidy was further increased by an additional 5 sen.

“However, this meant there was still a gap of 2 sen,” he was quoted as saying. 

This, Annuar said, had led to egg producers being reluctant to produce Grade A, B and C chicken eggs.

“They opted to slaughter their egg-layers before they reached maturity. This affected the supply of eggs and resulted in a shortage of about 100,000 eggs a month,” he said.

Annuar said he hopes the subsidy hike will spur farmers to up supply. 

Last month, the Agriculture and Food Industries Ministry set the retail ceiling prices of Grades A, B and C chicken eggs at 45 sen, 43 sen, and 41 sen, respectively, in Peninsular Malaysia. 

The ministry had earlier said the previous subsidy for chicken eggs would remain until December 31 this year. – November 1, 2022.